Show V 1 4 an marshall 1 v 0 rv V V V v r WAS afternoon recreation hour in the martin home and the dozen girls dressed in fresh blue gingham ham frocks sat with heads eagerly bent around tho the long low Q table this just juat beautiful asked mildred a girl of twelve us she held up a sheet of blue paper decorated with a border of tiny golden hearts ther was a chorus of Os I 1 from jbv other girls as they looked up from their cutting and pasting whoa your valentine for mildred asked one of the girls oil oh its for the cooks little boy said mildred wont he like it though mildred looked tit nt the red paper roses of the girl who sat next to her who Is yours for she asked mine Is for tho the apple woman on the corner she answered site ravelle me an tipple apple once and she alays anilleo when we pass so it was that the girls who lived nt at the martin home hoine had found friends to send the valentines to you see they had no friends on the outside world for they had all been brought as aalfs waifs into the kind care of mrs titus the matron or mother of tho home dut but little blue eyed juno could think of no one in all the world to wend send lier liar valentine to and yet she sat there with eager little fingers cutting out dozens of oc red hearts and arrows she was beginning to paste the gold letters on a sheet of blue paper when mildred caught sight of it look what june Is doing she said it pretty why slie she cuts as nice itco hearts as us big girls who are you going to send it to june little june hung her lend head and looked timidly at mildred its fur for somebody she said for my valentine 11 1 I dont believe she slie knows herself sold said another girl scornfully and then they fill all went on with their work too much interested in what they were dolog to ask juno june any more inore about it just as june had the last gold e pasted on the blue paper mrs titus the matron came into the room its four girls site she time to put the things away quickly each child placed tier her scissors paste and papers into her own little workbox and put it into the cupboard UP at the end of the room then each one went about the special duty that had been given to her ter for tho the week at supper when all the girls sat around the table with mrs titus the ra mother other at the head june was still trying tu to think of someone to send her valentine to and during the play hour that followed when the girls were at allowed to sing and dance to their hearts content little june usually tho the merriest of them all sat in a corner of 0 the room puzzling about her valentine suddenly it carne came upon her and when bhe had once thought of it it seemed so strange that she thought of it before she would take her valentine could think of no one to send it to to tit tho lovely lady la in the park whom the girls met luet almost every cery day lav driving or sometimes walking she always nodded to thein us as they passed tind juno lind had just as aa all the other girls had imagined that thu the ladys sweet smile was meant especially for her then it occurred to juno june that her valentine good enough for tho the lovely lady the little hearts und mid gold letters beamed so rough and ami imperfect cs as slie she reen lied them and she longed to ask sirs mrs titus for hapenny to buy ono one of the printed card valentines she had seen been in the store win windows doNys you see june realize that a handmade valentine would bring much more lovo love and thought than the sort site she could buy that when tho the six big girls lina gone to sleeping rooms and the very cry little girls ato were sound tn in the ho nursery nura pry uni june and the five 0 oilier r medium little girls were vere tit in their sleeping leeping room june went to tier her own owl ruilt drawer lu in the bis big bureau tit lit one end cud of tho the room here each little girl kept ept her own personal cherished pos los se the few filings bho hud brought with tier her from the great out side do world and the chance posses possession slow site sho hal had acquired in the home juno june had very veri little there wai rai v piece of paper lace ince hue hall saved from it box of christmas candy candi it few inapt ty spools spool which for some reason she had become especially attached to and the locket the little gold locket and chito she had had about her neck when over live he years site she hail had been brought hungry and dirty into the home fruit the street where acro she lind been found this locket was the most prized ol of till all her possessions not so much fur for the little chain and cine case but for the ring of golden hair inside juno june opened the case with a little pink finger nall nail and looked long tit nt the glossy curt curl tied with a tny tiny taw of blue ribbon then when tie no one wilt wa looking she took out the little crystal that flint protected it and slipped the trea ure out front from the locket hints for my iny valentine she sha said to herself as she laid the curl in tit tin drawer draper acro where site sho could easily git get it ID ic the morning after slie site had gono gone to sleep that night slie she dreamed dreams of little red paper hearts tind lovely loly indies with golden curls and blue silk ellk dresses and ani w 7 this la Is yours youra lady all the time she dreamed obe ahe thought though she was as standing in the kitchen a gigantic salt cellar while the tha cool cook made tho the cocoa the next day was st Valen tinei day and when han the children to tools 0 ic theli their wm malk in the park june watched matched eagerly every car carriage ringe that passed them but bill the lovely lady did not appear finally when she had almost given up fill all hopes of seeing her june saw tier hei walking toward them As she passed june slipped her valentine with ith the little curl pasted on it into the tha ladye hand band this Is yours lady she said and then she run ran back to the girls who thought that june had merely picked up something that the lady had dropped all that day june was waa carried away with joy jo the kind of joy that she had never known about before tor for till all site she hall bad been so well cared tor for in ill the home to think that site she had a real true valon valen tine thic a sort of rel relation atlon no doubt and that it was a secret she was mas keeping from tho the other girls wits was enough to make inake the day the most remarkable she could remember the next morning when oil all the girls sat in the schoolroom and juno wits working anxiously over her copybook copi book the door suddenly opened and mrs titus came into the room she smiled as she always did nail then she said june will you please come liere here little june rose with trembling knees for she halt half expected that she had done wrong in sending the ful lady a valentine and that mrs titus ellid found it out it vas mas not until june had followed mrs titus into the reception room that ahe found out that tho the beautiful lady had called to see her ter you call tier lier june the lady began eagerly that nattle mime vas ivas on oft the paper she gave gae me inc my ily little girls naine was alfreda she left us when she bho was only two years cars old yes said mrs titus she was brought hero here tho the first of june five years cars ago and that Is why wo we called tier her june the lady gave gae a half cry of delight then mrs titus asked june to go upstairs and get the little locket in a minute juno june had got the file treasure and laid it into the ladys hand oh my darling little alfreda afreda I 1 cried the lady lad as she stooped down nod and seized the child in her arnis arms while juno in tho the beautiful ladys arms anna mrs titus told exactly where the lost child had been found we always thought that someone must have stolen her ber from us paid fald the lady indy when the rollion had finished but site she must have craw crawled led or toddled away when hen the nurse looking she looked at the child with the softest of eyes but why dilyou did you give ghe me ine that little paper with the lock ot of hairl she asked cause I 1 wanted you to bo be my ani nl entitle said bald the child as she bhe put her little red lips up for a kiss |